Saturday, September 7, 2013

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe - Who's Next?

The US Airways flight made a wide descending left hand turn onto its final approach to Hewanorra International Airport

USAir: St. Lucia approach, US Airways now turning left base onto 6 mile finalTower: US Airways cleared to land. Wind 090 at 15USAir: 090 at 15. Cleared to land

Moments later a plume of white smoke rose off the runway as the
undercarriage touched down on the tarmac. The engines roared as the
pilot engaged full reverse thrust bringing the lumbering giant to
manageable speed as it rolled along the center line.

Tower: US Airways on at 46, cleared to the rampUSAir: On at 46, cleared to the ramp

And so another flight ended without much fanfare or excitement except
for that one passenger who was sweating bullets after flying for the
first time.

Inside the terminal waiting to check in was St. Lucia Police
Commissioner, Vernon Francois, who had little clue what lay ahead during
the next few minutes. He had arrived earlier for his flight to
Philadelphia and onward to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he would
attend a conference of NOBLE - The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. According to the Prime Minister, Francois was the St. Lucia representative of regional police commanders of the ACCP - The Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police which is headquartered in Barbados and comprises twenty four island states. What an embarrassment!

For purported reasons which have since come to light, Commissioner
Francois was denied boarding, and his flight sailed away with one less
passenger and one less bag. US Airways saved a few dollars on Jet A1
fuel that day.

There has been much speculation since thenas
to the real reason for Francois' boarding denial. It is true that a
press release from the Prime minister's office placed the reason
squarely in the lap of the US government's application of the Leahy Law
which states in part:

"No assistance shall be
furnished to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the
Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has
committed a gross violation of human rights."

"...None of the
funds made available by this Act may be used to support any training
program involving a unit of the security forces of a foreign country if
the Secretary of Defense has received credible information from the
Department of State that the unit has committed a gross violation of
human rights, unless all necessary corrective steps have been taken."

What has me befuddled is not the application of this law by the United
States (as they can do whatever they want with their money) but why the
application to St. Lucia at this time. By any measure of consideration
St. Lucia does not even factor into the realm of countries which have
alarming violations of human rights to be questioned. Jumping junipers!
Jamaica which is a stone's throw away from us has one of the most
alarming human rights records in the region, and yet no similar action
has been taken against them. So far this year the security forces in
Jamaica have killed 147 persons. Last year 219; in 2011 some 211 were
killed; in 2010 there were 382 killed! Yet no Leahy law.

Only a few days ago The New York Times ran an article:Official: Jamaica Must Curb Police Killings
Still no US action against Jamaica. St. Lucia now has the dubious
distinction of joining Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nigeria,
Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Really!!

With so many other rogue nations more deserving of a Leahy whipping it
leaves one to wonder whether there is some other motivation for this
drastic action. Could this be a smoke screen to cover up some deeper
concerns of the US administration?

But before we even get to
these other concerns of the U.S. one wonders whether the St. Lucia
government had been directly informed to take more aggressive action by
the US authorities. This supposedly sudden, surprising, and embarrassing
action just does not make sense. Firstly we can be considered an ally
and a friend of the United States; and friends try to remain friends
without undue conflict and embarrassment. According to sources it is
highly unusual for actions such as this to be taken without warning. Was
such a warning given, and if not, why? Nagging questions persist which
have not been addressed by the press in St. Lucia.

Questions which spring to mind which should be asked:

1.)
Did the government of St. Lucia have any indication that the US
government intended to apply the Leahy Law and cut off funding and
travel to the US by our police?
2.) Did the US convey any formal communication regarding alleged human rights violations by the police?
3.) During the prime minister's telephone conversation with the US ambassador Larry Leon Palmer were there any other concerns expressed regarding this current US action?
4.)
Since Francois was denied boarding, and therefore attendance to the
conference in Pennsylvania, was a substitute sent from the Association
of Caribbean Commissioners of Police?
5.) Was any statement made by the ACCP regarding this action?
6.) Does the US action have any repercussions for St. Lucia within the ACCP?
7.)
In light of the withdrawal of US funds to the RSLPF how does the
government propose to finance these operations and functionality which
have now been negatively affected?

Over to the press in St. Lucia.

Moving right along....

Since the enforcement of the Leahy Law upon St. Lucia, and how it seems
disproportionate compared to the gross violations which exists with
other countries, particularly Jamaica, much speculation has surfaced
regarding the real motives behind the current action. One speculation
which has risen to the top and is of loudest concern is whether the US
action has anything to do with St. Lucia's recent approval for full
membership to ALBA - Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America)

Many questions remain regarding our membership and involvement in ALBA.
Although we are now full fledged members the terms and conditions of
this membership remain vague at best. Nevertheless we are left to
speculate and join bits and pieces of information in an attempt to solve
the jigsaw puzzle which is ALBA. How many pieces there are remains to
be seen.

Many of the members in ALBA have some of the worst
human rights violations on record. Do we stand to be painted by that
same brush with our full membership? Many of these countries are
devoutly "anti-imperialist" with a deep down anti American sentiment.
How does that position

St. Lucia in our very strong ties with the United
States? Venezuela, which has been at the forefront of the ALBA
movement, is at loggerheads with the US, as well as Cuba and many of the
other South American members; how does that affect expectations of our
involvement in ALBA?

Expressing great concern in ALBA a hearing in the U.S. HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY was held on Tuesday, July 9, 2013. The focus
of this hearing was THREAT TO THE HOMELAND: IRAN’S EXTENDING INFLUENCE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. Excerpt from page 17 of this hearing:

Seriously! I wonder if this doesn't also have something to do with
the recently implemented requirement of visas for St. Lucians traveling
to Canada. Connect the dots. Why do you think every St. Lucia was
required to obtain a new birth certificate? The number of foreigners who
were coming to St. Lucia with fake documents and applying for our
cherished citizenship to then springboard into Canada and the United
States. We all know about it. Guyanese galore with fake birth
certificates and other documents caused the US to put the squeeze on us.
That is why St Lucians are catching hell at the registry. Jamaicans and
other non traditional immigrants moving to St. Lucia to marry and
obtain citizenship so they can go to Canada as bearers of our passport
did not require a visa then. All dat stop! You see them flowing to St.
Lucia now? Connect the dots my people! What about the islands in the
Caribbean which offered economic citizenship, like Dominica. A quarter
million dollars and you get a Dominican passport.

And what about
our economic standing. A long standing goal of ALBA is for a unified
currency, the Sucre. But wait, what will that do to our EC dollar? As
members of ALBA would we be required to ditch our currency which has
been tied to the greenback at $2.71, from time immemorial? How will that
affect our quality of life? Every currency of ALBA members, except
those of the Caribbean, is lower than the EC$. Ecuador which currently
uses the US dollar as it's official currency since March 13, 2000
had their official currency as the Sucre valued then at 25,000 to one
US dollar! Holy macaroni! Venezuelan bolívar 6.3 to one US dollar;
Bolivia Boliviano 6.1 to one US dollar; don't even mention the Cuban
currency 26.5 pesos to one US dollar. This all begs for us to question
how deeply are we involved with ALBA. With currencies trading at those
levels we can hardly believe that adopting the Sucre as our currency
would be of any benefit to us. Recently the suggestion that our EC
dollar be devalued was met with much ridicule and jeering for it's
proponent. Recently the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) rejectedsuggestions fromMoody’s Investor Services, that the Eastern Caribbean dollar should be devalued within the next five years. Wouldn't
the adoption of the Sucre basically do the same? There are some really
serious issues which need to be discussed and analyzed which have not
been done at all. And this has to be done in the public domain.

Good or bad, we do not know enough about ALBA. Why the secrecy?
Why the vagueness? As St. Lucians we must know what we have been signed
away to. Enough of this failed revolutionary nonsense. Comrade this and
comrade that, just ain't getting us anywhere. Feel good rhetoric of a
gone by era will not help us into the future. Fuzzy math with the
benefits of Petro-Caribe will not help us. In the end any bad moves will
seriously affect every single one of us, for many years to come!

So
in the absence of any concrete information of the terms and conditions,
obligations, requirements, and expectations, in ALBA, we are left to
examine peripheral activities from disparate sources to connect the dots
in order to formulate a picture of our involvement. If erroneous
conclusions are drawn then that is the result of secrecy and not malice.
We should not forget the demise of Saddam Hussein who
switched the trading currency of oil from the US dollar to the Euro.
What happened to our own CSME, did that fall by the wayside? Recently at
Recently, 2nd. April 2013, the United Nations General Assembly
approved a global arms trade treaty. Abstaining from that vote were the
ALBA countries of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua which
were among the 23 countries which abstained from voting. How did St.
Lucia vote? If at loggerheads with the ideals of ALBA, what
repercussions will there be for St. Lucia?

What are ALBA's policies or conditons when it comes to human rights,
democracy, freedom of the press? What are ALBA's objectives as far as
defense? What obligations will there be on member states? What is the
big secret of ALBA, well at least in St. Lucia? We keep hearing so much
about ALBA yet know so very little of it.

Could the US action
against RSLPF and by extension the government and people of St Lucia
actually be a shot across the bow of ALBA?

It is time to ask the tough questions. As a people we must know where we stand!

Let us now look at traditional ties. Throughout our history in the
Caribbean we have been under one flag or other, British or French. This
is why we speak English, French, and French Creole. We do not speak
Spanish except in Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Haiti. So for a
very long time we have been separated by language and sovereignty. South
and Central America had the fortune of the Spanish conquerors and the
Caribbean islands duked it out between the English and the French.
Trade, tourism, defense, and familial connections followed these lines.
Occasionally there were cross links, but these were very few and far
between. The British and French influence stretched from Guyana and
Cayenne in the south, all the way up the island chain, to the Bahamas in
the north, excluding the territories mentioned above.

A serious concern which needs to be dealt with is along the lines of
defense. What are St. Lucia's obligations as far as participation in any
conflict or military event. We consider Guyana, to our south, and on
the mainland of South America to be a sister country. It is also across
the Esequibo river from Venezuela. There has been a long standing
dispute for that region between these two countries for over one hundred
years. In fact, Venezuela has been poised on more than one occasion to
invade Guyana because of this dispute over that resource rich region.
What will be our position if ALBA nations decide to back Venezuela if
such a situation breaks out.

Then we have Argentina which is being courted for membership in ALBA. Of
course you would remember the war between Argentina and the UK over the
Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) in 1982. This has been another long
standing dispute and if Argentina were to join ALBA what would be St.
Lucia's role if ALBA decides to support the Argentinians. Only a few
months ago in June, Argentina resident Cristina De Kirchner renewed her
country’s claim for sovereignty over the Falkland Islands at a Security
Council meeting at the United Nations. Again, what implications does
this have for St. Lucia as a member of ALBA?

Should the people of St. Lucia not be consulted on these very pertinent issues?

Is
Petro-Caribe the honeypot used to entice us into an ALBA membership
blinding us to the real gravity of our extended involvement?

St.
Lucia has enjoyed very cordial relations with Venezuela since the late
70s-early 80s. In fact Venezuela even established the Centro Venezolano
de Cooperación (the Venezuelan Cooperation Center) upstairs the Adjodha
in the William Peter Boulevard. Then president of Venezuela was Luis
Herrera Campins, and the first Venezuelan ambassador to St. Lucia was
Rodolfo Molina Duarte. My first photography class was sponsored by the
Venezuelans at that center.

Attempts were made at trade and tourism on a grander scale, but those
were short lived. Viasa introduced flights from the Simon Bolivar
International Airport at Maiquetia to Hewanorra. These did not last too
long. Traditionally these have not been tourist markets and into the
foreseeable future this does not seem to be the case.

Since ALBA has really been spearheaded by Venezuela, could it be they
feel a debt of gratitude is owed St. Lucia since a son of our soil, Jean
Baptiste Bideau, saved the life of their great liberator, Simon
Bolivar? I wonder what their reaction would be if it is revealed to them
that the saviour of their great liberator was ridiculed, mocked, and
his bust in the park opposite the government printery in Castries was
spat on. The mere mention of his name, Jean Baptiste Bideau, was met
with jeers and ridicule and wails of "Jean Baptiste Bideauuuuuu." Oh
what a tangled web we weave....

It is, at the very least, irresponsible for us to be signed to so much, yet know so little about it.